Challenger Anderson Silva grimaces in pain after breaking his leg during his fight against champion Chris Weidman in an attempt to regain the middleweight title at UFC 168 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2013. Weidman won due to injury to Silva. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht/Los Angeles Daily News)

LAS VEGAS —­ Leave it to the UFC to hold its last and biggest card of 2013 and wind up with two shocking finishes.

In the main event at UFC 168, Anderson Silva’s leg snapped when attempting a low leg kick on middleweight champion Chris Weidman, giving Weidman a TKO victory via injury at 1:16 of the second round Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

And in the co-main event, women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was pushed past the first round for the first time in her career before she finally got a game Miesha Tate to tap out to her vaunted armbar in the third round.

The night ended, though, on a subdued and somber note after Silva, who had been dominated in the first round, went to deliver a low leg kick to Weidman’s left leg. But Weidman (11-0) rose his leg and checked the kick with his knee.

Replays showed Silva’s lower leg snap and flail before he crashed to the mat in agony as referee Herb Dean quickly stopped the fight.

Medics rushed into the cage and put Silva’s leg in a cast. Silva was placed on a stretcher and wheeled to the back.

UFC President Dana White addressed the injury and its impact at the post-fight press conference.

“I’m a big fan. I have been since (Anderson) came here. It’s just one of those crazy things,” White said. “In a million years, you never expect to see that. This will be a tough thing to come back from at his age. He literally left here and is going straight to surgery.

“Anderson Silva’s been amazing. One of the greatest of all time, if not the best ever. And it’s a (crappy) way seeing him go out, but it’s part of the game.”

The 38-year-year-old Silva (33-6), who lives in Redondo Beach, was looking to win back the belt he lost to Weidman in July via a stunning second-round knockout.

As much as it was a freak finish Saturday, it means Weidman defended his belt and still reigns the 185-pound division.

“I understand where people are coming from, but slowly but surely people are starting to believe,” Weidman said.

Whie it was a freak injury, Weidman said the fact he raised his leg to block the kick was intentional.

“I don’t think it’s accidental when you try to check a kick and it works,” Weidman said. “Otherwise, if I didn’t check the kick, I’d have a big bruise on my leg right now ... so you try to check kicks.”

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On a night when the main card was full of first-round finishes, until the main event, the one that didn’t end in the first five minutes proved the biggest surprise.

Rousey successfully defended her title with her patented armbar on Tate, but the fact that it came in the third round stunned the 15,650 in attendance.

Rousey, who had won all of her fights via first-round armbar submission, was clearly the better fighter and had her way with Tate in winning the first two rounds. Yet Tate was game to trade punches and extend the fight.

Tate even escaped a couple armbar attempts and went for a triangle choke on Rousey, but the third round brought an end to her spirited upset bid.

Rousey (8-0) pressed Tate (13-5) against the cage before taking her down and wrenching Tate’s left arm — the same one she grotesquely torqued in their Strikeforce title fight in 2012 — to force the tapout 58 seconds into the round.

The move earned Rousey the Submission of the Night bonus worth $75,000, and she and Tate were awarded the Fight of the Night bonus, which is $75,000 each.

“Going more than one round was a good experience. In judo, I had to go five founds. The experience is good, going longer than one round,” said Rousey, who at one point was a 12-to-1 favorite before the odds fell to 7-to-1 before the fight. “I needed that experience in the Octagon, and as my mom said, better to get it in a win than in a loss.

“I feel fine. I was much worse off after the Liz Carmouche fight, where she dislocated my jaw. I feel pretty good other than a scratch under my eye. I’m looking forward to a little time off and celebrating Christmas with my family.”

Rousey was booed heavily after her win for not shaking an extended hand from Tate — so loudly that her post-fight interview in the Octagon was difficult to hear.

While Rousey said she has no regrets because she’s waiting for Tate to apologize for transgressions from their days filming “The Ultimate Fighter” in June, Rousey did offer praise for Tate.

“She’s a great fighter. It was an amazing fight she put out,” Rousey said. “She has my respect entirely in that regard, but she really needs to make up for a few things that she’s done before I’ll shake her hand.”

Heavyweights Josh Barnett and Travis Browne were expected to put on a display with major artillery, and Browne did not disappoint.

Going for a double-leg takedown, Barnett dove right into a knee to the left cheek that opened a cut. Browne then followed with several elbows to the left temple to knock out Barnett at 1:00 of the first round.

The victory sets Browne (16-1-1) up with a No. 1 contender fight against Fabricio Werdum.

“Looks like Werdum and I have a date,” said Browne, who won the $75,000 Knockout of the Night bonus. “I’m ready whenever you are, sweetheart.”

It was the first KO/TKO loss for Fullerton-based Barnett (33-7) since 2006.

In lightweight action, Jim Miller wasn’t doing too well on his feet against Fabricio Camoes, but once it went to the ground, Miller looked spectacular.

The New Jersey 155-pounder expertly set up and sunk in an armbar that forced Camoes — a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — to tap out at 3:42 of the first round.

In the opening fight of the main card, motivated by opponent Diego Brandao missing weight by eight pounds, featherweight Dustin Poirier weathered two takedowns before teeing off on Brandao and winning by TKO at 4:54 of the first round.

Poirier, who had words with Brandao at the weigh-in after Brandao came in at 153 pounds, connected many times as Brandao was against the cage. Brandao looked up at the clock to see how much time he had, but Poirier put him down and kept up the flurry on the ground. The referee had seen enough with six seconds left and waved off the fight.

Brandao was fined 25 percent of his purse by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, with half of it going to Poirier.